Bottle case



May 1, 1934 J. H. CRUlCKSHANK BOTTLE CASE Filed Aug. 3, 1931 2Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR y 1934- J. H. CRUICKSHANK 1,956,710

BOTTLE CASE Filed Aug. 3, 1931 2 Shets-Sheet 2 n as 11.

INVENTOR SM )4. (L 7M Patented May 1, 1934 4 Claims.

The invention relates to bottle-cases and more particularly toopen-bottom cases for milk bottles.

Its main object is to provide a case or crate which will meet all therequirements for a suitable container of bottles and not only some ofthem, as do the bottle-cases now on the market.

A feature of this invention is a novel self-contained open-bottom forthe case, forming a separate unit which may be readily assembled andsecured to the side-walls of the case without any nail or screwfastening, which is much stronger and durable than the bottoms of theknown cases and which may be easily removed as a whole for repair andreplacing.

This novel open-bottom may be formed by longitudinal strips of timberalternating with parallel metal wires carried and held fast together bya channel member lying on one side 0 with its open part facing theinside of the bottom and running either all around the bottom or alongthe two end-sides thereof, or it may comprise a netting of wires rivetedto a channel member running all around the bottom of the case.

Another feature is to form with this novel open-bottom and four uprightguide-members, without using any special fastening means, aself-supporting skeleton-frame, facilitating the building of theside-walls of the case.

This skeleton-frame, in one form of the invention, may be made morerigid by having each pair of said upright guide-members made integralwith the channel-member of the bottom at each end-side of the case.

A further feature of the invention is the provision of a partitioninginner-frame of a novel construction, which makes it very convenient,durable, easy of repair and economical both in manufacture and in use,as it reduces the breakage of bottles and the consumption of ice. Thisinner frame may be made entirely of wood, or of wooden postsconveniently tied together and kept at the proper spacing by metallicwires, riveted to the side-walls of the case, or also entirely of bandsor straps of spring-steel arranged so as to form within the case aplurality of resilient bottle-holders.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter 50 appear. a I

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure l is a front view of a first embodiment with part broken to showthe interior of the case and part in section on line 1-1 of Figure 2,without the side-walls of the case to show the skeleton formed by thebottom and the four reinforcing corners.

Figure 2 is a top view with part broken to show the bottom of this firstembodiment.

Figure 3 is a top view at smaller scale of a second embodiment with partof the side-walls broken to show the bottom of the case.

Figure 4 is a section on line 4-4 of Figure 3 and Figure 5 a detail viewin perspective of said second embodiment.

Figure 6 is a top view of a third embodiment.

Figure '7 is an end view thereof, and

Figure 8 a detail view in perspective of the bottom thereof.

Figure 9 shows a modification of the partition- 7 ing inner-frame, and

Figure 10 shows another way of forming the skeleton-frame of the case.

In all these figures, A indicates generically the bottom of the case, Bthe end-walls and C the longitudinal walls thereof, D theinner-partitioning frame and E the bottles.

In the first embodiment (Figures 1 and 2), the bottom A comprises twoU-shaped end-channels 10, lying on a bottom-side provided with an inner30 upturned flange 11, cutshort at both ends, two outer strips of timber12 provided near their ends with inner vertical L-shaped slots 13 andouter vertical grooves 14, two inner strips of timber 15 with horizontalbottom-grooves 16 engaging the flanges 11 and 81K tie-pieces of timber17, inserted endwise within the channels 10. All these parts are tiedlongitudinally together by means of three wires 18, riveted at both ends19. These wires serve also as supports for the necks 20 of the bottlesE, when the latter are turned upsidedown in the case for drainingpurposes after washing.

When assembled, all these parts 10 to 19 form a solid frame, which maybe then readily engaged as a whole, horizontally and downwardly alongfour upright corner-guides, fitting into the slots 13 and the grooves14. Each of these guides comprises an inner angle-iron 21, provided withfour slots 22 and an outer angle-iron 23, with bottom 24 and twoupturned flanks 25. 26 of said bottom. Said angle-iron 23 is furthermoreprovided with two inwardly turned vertical flanges or reinforcing ribs27, 28. The flange 27, which fits into the groove 14, extends on thewhole height of the iron 23, while the flange 28 is curtailed just abovethe channel 10.

Near the end of this inserting movement, the four flanks 26 are sli htlyrepulsed, i. e. opened, by the channels 10 of this frame, acting then as0 wedges between the flanges 28 and the angle-irons 21, but as soon asthe frame reaches the bevelled ends 29 of said flanges 28, these iianks26 act as snapping-springs and press said frame and said four uprightguides together in their proper relative position.

The two longitudinal walls are then formed by inserting one after theother five strips of timber 30, 31, 32, 33 and 34 between the front andthe rear pairs of upright-guides 21, 23 respectively. Each of thesestrips is provided at both ends with outer vertical grooves registeringwith the grooves 14 and engaging the flanges 2'7 of the angle-irons 23.The two end-walls B are afterwards formed likewise with strips of timber35. The three lower strips 35 are provided with two vertical innergrooves 36 and two outer vertical grooves 37, while the two upper strips35, in which are formed the usual handles (not shown), present onlythese latter grooves 3'7 engaging the flanges 28 of the angle-irons 23.

The all-wood inner partitioning frame D for holding the bottles properlyspaced apart comprises six posts of timber 38 assembled by means of anyconvenient mortise and tenon joint without any fastening, with two pairsof longitudinal tie-slats 39 and three pairs of transversal tieslats 40,so as to form a wood unit extending over the height of the three lowerstrips 30, 31 and 32.

This unit may be readily inserted downwardly into the case before theinsertion of the two pairs of upper strips 35 of the end-walls B, theend of the tie-slats 39 engaging into the opposite grooves 36.

When the parts A, B, C, D of the case are thus assembled, eight pairs ofrivets 41 are engaged into the holes 42 of the outer angle-irons 23,registering with the slots 22 of the inner angle-iron 21 and with holes(not shown) of the strips 30, 34 and corresponding end-strips 35.

To replace or repair the bottom A, which is the most vulnerable part ofthe case, one has only to out these sixteen rivets 41 and to remove thefour side-walls B, C of the case and afterwards the bottom A.

If a part only of this bottom is to be replaced, there is no dismountingrequired for the strips 12 and only the cutting of the one riveted end19 of one wire 13 to allow the removal of either of the strips 15.

To change or repair either of the side-walls B, C, it is only necessaryto cut the upper two rivets on that wall in order to remove the upperfour strips of timber of each wall, and to out the four rivets of thatwall to remove all the strips, while to remove the inner frame D, onehas only to cut the two upper rivets of each end-wall B and to removethe two pairs of upper end-strips 35.

The bottom A in the second embodiment (shown in Figures 3 to 5) isframed by a U-channel 43 closed on itself, and comprisesas in the firstembodimenttwo pairs of outer and inner strips of timber 44 and 15 andthree tie-rods or wires 18. Each strip 15 is provided at each end with abottom-groove 16 engaging the end-flanges 11 of the U-channel 43. Eachof said wires 18 is slidably mounted into the channel 43 by means ofU-shaped slides 45 soldered at its ends.

Each upright guide-corner is made of a onepiece angle-iron 46, 47, 48the lower of which fits exactly around a corner of the U-channel 43. Anopening or slot 49 is provided in said channel 43 to allow the end-wiseinsertion therein, one after the other, of all the bottom parts 15, 18,44.

The side-walls C, B are formed with strips of timber 50, 51, as in thefirst embodiment, but these strips have no outer groove, only the threelower strips 51 have inner vertical grooves to hold the inner frame Dfast within the case.

In this embodiment, said inner frame D comprises six octahedral woodenposts 52, held in vertical position at the proper spacing by means oftwo pairs of longitudinal tie-slats 53, and three pairs of transversaltie-slats 54, and furthermore ten end posts 55, kept pressed against theinside walls of the case by the lower pairs of slats 53, 54 and heldagainst vertical displacement by the upper pairs of slats 53, 54.

63 (Figure 4) indicates the usual openings in the end-walls B serving ashandles.

It must be noted that in said embodiment, it is not necessary to removethe channel member 43 in order to replace another part of the bottom Aas, after removal of the two double angle-irons 46, 48 on thelongitudinal side where is the opening 49, all of these other parts maybe withdrawn one after the other, simply by being first slid along theend-sides of the channel 43 in the direction of the arrow Y (Figure 3)and then pulled endwise in the perpendicular direction X through theopening 49 as shown in Figure 5.

It must be noted also that in this embodiment the parts forming thebottom A are assembled in a self-contained unit, without any fastening.

In the third embodiment (Figures 6 to 8), the interior of theopen-bottom A is formed by three pairs of parallel wires 57, stretchedbetween the two end-sides of a U-channel 56 and riveted thereto at 58.The inner-frame D comprises six vertical wooden posts 59, kept in spacedrelation by means of a netting of perpendicular wires 60, 61 secured tothe side-walls B, C of the case. A reinforcing cross U-channel 62(Figure '7) is suit ably secured to the channel 56 in order to keep thewires 57 at the proper spacing.

In these two last embodiments, the four one piece double angle-irons 46,48 give such a rigidity and strength to the lower part of the case thatthe lower row of rivets 41 may be dispensed with.

Thus, the walls A, B, C of the case are fastened together by only eightupper rivets.

In order to minimize the rattling of the bottles, due to the playbetween them and the surfaces of contact of their compartments, thepartitioning inner-frame may be conveniently formed by parallel rows ofindividual holders 64 (Figure 9), consisting of two crossed U-shapedstraps of spring-steel fastened together and to the bottom A of the caseby means of rivets 65.

In that case, three strips of timber 66 similar to the strips 15 replacethe three wires 18 of the bottom A, the strips 15 and 44 may bedispensed with if the all-around U-channel 43 or 56 is used and sixtie-pieces similar to the pieces of timber 17 are used to hold saidstrip 66 fast at the proper spacing.

The straps 64, instead of being cut as shown at their outwardly bentends, may be continuous and undulated from one side of the case to theopposite side, so as to form the desired number of bottle-holdersequally spaced and arranged in parallel rows in the case.

Figure 10 shows a modification of the skeletonframe formed by the bottomA and the four upright angle-irons, reinforcing the corners of the caseand serving as guides for the insertion of the side-walls B, C.According to this modification, in order to still further stiffen thecase, the

channel-member 6'7 reinforcing each end-side of the bottom A and the twoadjoining upright guide-members 68 are formed from a single strip ofmetal 69, conveniently stamped and folded as shown in dash and dotlines. By the same stamping operation are formed twelve rivet-holes 42and the three holes '70 for the wires 18, while by suitable foldingoperations are formed the two upturned flanks 26 and the inner-flange11. Thus is obtained a very strong and rigid skeleton-frame for thecase.

It must be noted that in all the embodiments of the invention shown onthe drawings, the channel-member does not only reinforce the sides ofthe case, but furthermore serves as a positive carrier or holder for theconstitutive parts of the bottom A.

In order to further reduce the breakage of hottles, all or part of thesurfaces contacting with said latter may be permanently covered orcoated with a layer of more or less soft substance as rubber or leather,or strips of rubber may be stretched across the bottom and sides of thecase. The wires 18, 57, 60, 61 may be likewise wrapped with similarsubstances or surrounded with tubes made of them.

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention andportions of the improvements may be used without others.

A bracing tie-member, similar in effect to the cross U-channel 62, maybe secured across the middle of the bottom A in all the embodimentsshown in order to prevent the breaking of bottles when loading the caseson a hand-truck.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A bottle case comprising two metal frames, each of said frames beingmade out of one piece of sheet metal and bent to form a bottom channeland two uprights, an inner, upturned flange in each channel, groovedstrips located between the channels to constitute part of the bottom ofthe case, the grooves of said strips to engage the upturned flanges ofsaid channels, inner upturned flanges on each upright, grooved stripslocated between the uprights to form the walls of the case, the groovesof said strips to engage the upturned flanges of said uprights and meansto secure said frames and strips relative to each other to constitute arigid and durable bottle case.

2. A bottle case comprising two U-shaped metal frames, each of saidframes being made out of one piece of sheet metal and bent to form abottom channel and two angle uprights, strips and tierods between thechannels to form the bottom of the case with said channels, means toretain the ends of said strips within said channels, strips locatedbetween the uprights to form the walls of the case, the strips at theextreme ends of the uprights being secured to said uprights.

3. A bottle case comprising two U-shaped metal frames, each of saidframes being made out of one piece of sheet metal and bent to form abottom channel and two angle uprights, alternating strips of wood andtierods mounted between said two channels to form therewith the bottomof the case, means to retain the ends of said strips and tierods withinsaid channels, strips of wood located between the four angle uprights toform the walls of the case, the strips at the extreme ends of uprightsbeing riveted to said uprights.

4. A bottle case comprising two bottom channel members made integralwith the adjoining upright corner members so as to form therewith a twopiece self-supporting metallic skeleton frame, to which are removablyfastened the four wooden side-walls of the case, each of said channelmembers in one piece with the two adjoining reinforcing upright cornermembers being formed by a single stamping operation and five foldingoperations from a single strip of metal, with all the necessaryrivet-holes, with two upturned flanks fitting in corresponding slots ofthe bottom and with an inner flange engaging corresponding groovesprovided in said bottom.

JAMES H. CRUICKSHANK.

